Finishing coating and method of applying the same



Aug. 13, 1935. w. H. NUTTING 2,011,132

FINISHING COATING AND METHOD OF APPLYING THE SAME Filed May 6, 1950 INVENTOR. W/LLAEP H. NUTTl/VG BY J HIS ATTORNE Patented Aug. 13, I935 PATENT OFFICE FINISHING COATING AND .METHOD OF APPLYING THE SAME Willard H. Nutting, Piedmont, Calif., assignor to The Paraffine' Companies, Inc., San Francisco, Calif., a corporation of Delaware Application May 6, 1930, Serial No. 450,202 5 Claims. (01. 91-619) My invention relates to a finishing coating and its method of application, and particularly to such a coating for covering materials.

It is among the objects of my invention to provide a finishing coating for floor coverings which is easily applied, and possessed of a durability far in excess of previously known products of the kind.

Further objects of my invention include the provision of a finishing coating which may be applied to a suitable foundation or base in any design or combination of colors; and which provides a uniformly smooth and flat surface, free from irregular and unsightly efi'ects, previously produced by surface tension when viscous materials were applied for this purpose.

The invention possesses numerous other objects and features of advantage, some of which, with the foregoing, will be set forth in the following description of my invention. understood that I do not limit myself to this disclosure of species of my invention, as I may adopt variant embodiments thereof within the scope of the claims.

Referring to the drawing:

Figures 1 to 4, inclusive, are vertical sectional views showing portions of a print block and a foundation, sheet; and illustrate a method of applying the finishing coating -embodying my invention.

Figure 5 is a perspective view showing a portion of a foundation sheet provided with the finishing coating of my invention.

It has long been the practice to print covering materials, such as floor coverings, by applying dabs of drying viscous material or paint on a dry surface with toothed or ribbed printing blocks. Certain areas are printed with one color, and adjacent or non-adjacent areas with another color; the process being carried out until all of the original dry surface is covered so far as possible. In the event that the blocks printing the colors are not 'in register with each other, and acting in time with the motion of the printing machine, a skip or unprinted area appears between adjacent colors or printed areas.

Failures to secure perfect contact between sue.- cessive areas of applied paint occur most often where the paint applied by the ends of a series of printing ribs on one block just fail to meet the paint from the series of complementary rib ends on another block, or do not come in perfect contact with a printed line. This is due to the fact that the ends of a series of ribs print a zig-zag line, known in the trade as saw-teeth,

It is to be.

due to the paint tending to spread substantially an equal distance from each of the ribs of the depositing means; and this effect is accentuated by the fact that the paint deposits from the adjacent ribs tend to draw together, due to surface 5 tension manifest in the viscous material when deposited on a dry surface.

If the ends of the saw-teeth are overlapped, in an endeavor to overcome this difliculty, it is found that an unnecessarily large amount of 10 paint is deposited at the ends of the two groups 1 of ribs, and an uneven ridge appears at the intel-section.

Another difficulty encountered in the practice of printing on a dry surface is due to the fact that the blocks, on being lifted, tend to draw the paint deposits with them causing the paint to heap up in ridges. The effect of this ridging is unsightly, and almost invariably results in an uneven drying of the paint and an uneven sur- 20 face. a

In all events, the paint deposits on-a dry surface tend to draw away from the edges contacting with the surface; because of the existing surface tension in the deposits; and it is noteworthy that this effect is increasingly persistent during the drying process. This factor causes paint deposits from adjacent blocks to draw away from each other to produce an interrupted and uneven coating instead of spreading out to produce a continuous and even coating.

The broad purpose of this invention is to overcome these difficulties; and at the same time provide a finishing coating which is highly durable, possessed of qualities pleasing to the eye, and which does not require additional apparatus 1 for its application.

In terms of broad inclusion the method of applying the finishing coating embodying my invention comprises laying a base layer of viscous material; and while the base layer is still liquid, overlaying it with other bodies of viscous material. so that all the materials may harden together. The overlying bodies are preferably of lighter consistency than the base layer, and have substantially equal thickness sothat they form a continuous, smooth, flat coating over the base layer.

The overlying bodies of viscous material becomes slightly embedded in the soft base layer, and tend to flow out or spread, due to equalized effects of surface tension; to produce a smooth, flat coating over the base layer. These overlying bodies include the ground and design colors, and are applied to give the desired design and 5 color scheme; the base layer being preferably of the ground color.

In greater detail the finishing coating embodying my invention is applied on a foundation sheet 2 of any suitable material, depending upon the purpose for which it is to be used. If the p pose is to provide a floor covering, the sheet 2 may conveniently be of bituminous saturated felt; this foundation material being well known to those-concerned in the manufacture of felt base fioor coverings.

Seal coatings 3 are provided on each face of the sheet 2, and may be of any varnish-like material such as now ordinarily used to seal in the asphaltic saturant. It is to be noted however, that the detailed character of the foundation or base sheet is unimportant.

In applying the finishing coating embodying my invention, a base layer ii is first laid over the entire surface to be covered with a design. This may be accomplished by means of print blocks, rollers, or any other suitable means. Good results have been obtained by applying this layer with a ribbed print block, and afterwards smoothing it with one or two sets of brushes. It has been found desirable, from an economic point of view, to make this base layer as thin as reasonably can be done, without loss of hiding power. The layer it may be of any suitable viscous material, such as ,paint or the like, which will harden when spread out on a surface; this layer preferably being of the ground color used in the design.

After the base layer 6 has been applied, and while this layer is still liquid, another body 8 of viscous material is applied to overlie the base layer. This body of viscous material is preferably of lighter consistence than the base layer 2, and includes the color used in the design. If found desirable to do so, the viscous material in body 6 may be of the same consistency as that in layer d; the efiect of lighter consistency being obtained by allowing the base layer to dry slightly before the body 6 is applied. Any suitable viscous material, such as paint, enamel, orv

lacquer, which 'will harden into an enamel-like finish, may be used for the overlying body 6. A toothed or ribbed print block i is prefer ably used to apply'the body 6; this type of print block being well known in the art of color printing. The lower faces of the block are inked with the dabs of print paint 8 by any suitable means; and the block is lowered until the paint 8 just contacts with the freshly applied layer l, as shown in Fig. 2. The block 1 is then withdrawn, and a portion of the paint 8, on the faces of the print block, will be found to have been transferred to the surface of the soft base layer 3.

Several interesting phenomena here are observed. In the first place, the lower faces of the print block i may be alternately supplied with paint and the paint printed in successively new positions on the softlayer d, and, though the process continue indefinitely, none of the paint from the layer a will be transferred to the print block.

Secondly, the paint deposited on the soft layer 6 will fiow out slightly and embed itself in the wet layer to form a smooth paint body overlying the base layer. There is no tendency on the part of the print block I to draw the paint upwardly and cause it to heap up in ridges, as is the case where the printing is done on a dry surface.

Furthermore, the surface tension effects of the contacting soft viscous materials tend to be equalized, and, as a result, the overlying bodies of paint tend to flow out slightly and join or coalesce with adjacently applied bodies. This eliminates the unprinted or skipped areas created by maladjustment of the print blocks, or

the uneven saw teeth edges at the ends of the ribbed blocks. Furthermore, even if a small area is skipped the fault is remedied, because the paint flow in the soft base layer t tends to rise up and fill in the skipped area, due either to capillary attraction, or to the tendency of adjoining liquids to assume a common level. As a result, though small skipped areas might appear in the center of a design unit, the base color would come up to fill them; and it is found that they will, even under these conditions, have the appearance of small printed areas.

The overlying body 6, which may be formed in any design or. color, is embedded slightly in the base layer t and hence tends to approach the surface level of the base layer. As a result, the process may be terminated at this point and the exposed portions ii of the base layer be allowed to provide the ground color for the overlying design. A portion of a finishing material of this character wculd appear in section as indicated in Figure 3,

where body 6 represents a unit of the overlying design, and the exposed portions ll, of the base layer 3, show the ground color as a background for the design.

It is preferred, however, to apply bodies of paint, each to form a portion of the design or background and coalescing with each other along their adjoining edges, to produce a continuous coating it completely covering the base layer. This is shown in Figures 4 and 5. In this case, an overlying body 52 of ground color is deposited between the two overlying bodies of design color id and it. All the overlying bodies are of substantially equal thickness, and the resulting effect is a continuous, fiat, smooth surface. Although the base layer t is not used as a background in this case, it is preferred to have it the ground color, so that when it comes up to fill in any small skipped areas, these areas will show up in the ground color.

The fim'shing coating applied by this method results in a smooth, flat surface, in which all the color bodies forming the design lie in the same plane; in which unprinted areas are absent; and in which the undesirable effects of saw-toothing are reduced to a minimum. These results may be again expressed in terms of materially enhanced durability, greater beauty in appearance, and increased sanitation. The last mentioned factor follows from the ease with which the smooth, flat, continuous finishing coating may be kept clean; there being no irregularities in the exposed surface to catch and hold dirt or other contamination. This makes the finishing coating of my invention particularly adapted for use in hospitals or other institutions where sanitation is essential.

I claim:

1. The method of applying a coating to provide a surface presenting a colored design, which comprises laying a base layer of viscous material, and overlaying the base layer with adjacently positioned deposits of colored viscous material, certain of the deposits being of one color and others of another color depending upon the design configuration, said deposits being laid over the base layer while the latter is still in its plastic state so that each deposit will fiow out and coalesce along its entire edge with the edges of adjacent deposits to completely cover the base layer and form a coating having a continuous and smooth finishing surface.

2. The method of applying a coating to provide a surface presenting a colored design, which comprises laying a base layer of viscous material, smoothing said layer, and overlaying the base layer with adjacently positioned deposits of colored viscous material, certain of the deposits being of one color and others of another color depending upon the design configuration, said deposits being laid over the base layer while the latter is still in its plastic state so that each deposit will fiow out and coalesce along its entire edge with the edges of adjacent deposits to completely cover the base layer and form a coating having a continuous and smooth finishing surface.

3. The method of applying a coating to provide a surface presenting a colored design, which comprises laying a base layer of viscous material, and overlaying the base layer with adjacently positioned deposits of colored viscous material, certain of the deposits being of one color and others of another color depending upon the design configuration, said deposits being of lighter consistency than the viscous material of the base layer and being laid over said layer while the latter is still in its plastic state so that each deposit will fiow out and-coalesce along its entire edge with the edges of adjacent deposits to completely cover the base layer and form a coating having a continuus and smooth finishing surface.

4. The method of print block printing to provide a coating having a surface of colored design, which comprises laying a base layer of viscous material, inking the print blocks with colored viscous material, certain of the blocks being inked with one color and others with other colors depending on the design configuration, moving the blocks toward the base layer until the inking material just contacts the surface thereof, and then immediately withdrawing the blocks so that the inking material is left as deposits on the surface of the base layer, the printing being effected while the base layer is still in its plastic state, said transfer of inking material being efiected solely by the latters contact with the base layer and while the blocks themselves are still spaced from the surface of said layer so that the blocks cannot pick up the viscous material of the base layer and cause mixing thereof with the design color.

5. The method of applying a coating to provide a surface presenting a colored design, which comprises forcibly applying a base layer of coating material, and overlaying the base layer with adjacently positioned deposits of colored coating material, certain of the deposits being of one color and others of another color depending upon the design configuration, said deposits being laid over the base layer while the latter is still wet, the

base and deposit coatings being so applied that each deposit will flowout and coalesce along its entire edge with the edges of adjacent deposits to completely cover the base layer and form a coating having a continuous and smooth finishing surface.

WILLARD H. NUTIING. 

